good morning, and welcome to "this week." romney rebounds. >> your title, mr. president, you have your airplane and house. >> it re-energizes his campaign. >> i enjoyed that debate a couple of nights ago. >> and knocks the president on his heels. >> four years ago i said i'm not a perfect man and i wouldn't be a perfect president and that's probably a promise that governor romney thinks i kept. >> the big question, can governor romney double down on his debate win and take control of this race. friday's surprisingly strong jobs report. >> the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since i took office. >> stop his momentum? we'll ask top advisers to both

candidates, robert gibbs for obama, ed gillespie for romney. then insight and analysis on our powerhouse round table with our favorite political odd couple, james carville and mary matalin plus paul krugman of "the new york times," peggy noonan from "the "wall street journal"" and abc's jonathan karl. then -- >> what would you like for christmas, little boy? >> get off. >> the week's other political slugfest, bill o'reilly joins us live this morning. >> from abc news, "this week" with george stephanopoulos. it's "your voice, your vote" reporting from abc news, election headquarters, george stephanopoulos. >> hello, again, just 30 days now until the final votes and after the most intense week yet of this campaign, mitt romney has momentum. national polls show him gaining ground and his crowds have picked up and last night in florida, romney opened up telling about his last visit with an old friend paralyzed in a tragic accident.

>> they pushed his wheelchair forward and he came up and i reached over and put my arm on his shoulder and i whispered into his ear and i said, billy, i love you and god bless you. i got a call from a friend that he died the next day after that visit. it's rare that you get the chance to tell someone how much you love them when you still can. >> can romney keep gaining ground or will president obama maintain his advantage in those battleground states that matter most? we'll look at the race from all angles this morning and begin with the campaign's ed gillespie and robert gibbs for barack obama and, robert, let me begin with you. how much difference did governor romney make wednesday night. >> look, i think governor romney had a master theatrical performance just this past week but the underpinnings and foundation of that performance were fundamentally dishonest. look, he walked away from the central tenet of his economic theory by saying he had no idea what the president was talking about. ten minutes after the debate even his own staff is walking back his answers on health care

and pre-existing conditions so, look, i don't want to take anything away from what i think was a masterful, masterful performance by governor romney but i don't think governor romney's positions have changed and i don't think fundamentally the campaign changed. >> what happened to the president wednesday night? you've seen all the reviews and i'm sure the president has seen the reviews, as well. "new yorker" cover there, shows the empty podium next to mitt romney. the basic line is the president didn't show up on wednesday night. i just want to know when did he know he was beat? >> well, look, george, i think the president understood that he hadn't performed up to his own expectations pretty quickly into -- after he got off the stage that night but, look, george, i think what's interesting, it's not -- i think it's who showed up on the republican side. you know, a clone that looked a lot like mitt romney that had walked away from fundamentally every position that he had taken. you cannot cut taxes by $5

trillion as he's doing and simply say, oh, i don't have that tax cut. i'm not going to cut taxes for the wealthy when the average high-income earner is going to get a $250,000 tax cut. >> let me stop you right there because the romney campaign has a new ad just out on that point and say the president and his team are aligned when they call it a $5 trillion tax cut. >> president obama continues to distort mitt romney's economic plan. the latest, not telling the truth about mitt romney's tax plan. the ap says it doesn't add up. abc news, mostly fiction, even the obama campaign admitted it it wasn't true. >> well, okay, stipulated it won't be near $5 trillion. >> so does the campaign now accept that the cuts will be less than $5 trillion? >> no, absolutely not. i mean, look, if you're going to reduce the bush tax rates by 20% in the estate tax, in the amt, change the corporate rate and a whole host of other changes it epzs up in a reduction of

revenue. the question for governor romney is what loopholes will you close supposedly to make up for that revenue and if you don't close $4.8 trillion in those loophole, two things happen, either the deficit goes up, or more likely is the middle class is going to see their taxes go up. >> he's saying shall as you know, robert, he's stating unequivocally that he will not push the tax cuts if they increase the deficit and that he will not push them if they force back increases on the middle class. >> then, he has -- then he's got no economic theory. then he's walked away from 18 months of what the whole campaign has been about. seen this movie before, don't worry, it's all going to get paid for, it's fine. when you ask him what loopholes will you close specifically for wealthy earners to help pay for the $4.8 trillion in reduced revenue, there's no answer. i mean, let's be clear. paul ryan a week ago was asked about the math for this and paul ryan, said, look, the math takes too long. well, mitt romney's solution is

he just decided there wasn't math involved in this problem and that's absolutely crazy. look, the only thing he outlined that he would cut in the budget is big bird. you know, he's taken the battle straight to "sesame street" and let wall street run hog wild. it was a masterful manyperformance. it was fundamentally honest to the american people and if you're willing to say anything to get elected president, willing to make up your positions and walk away from them i think the american people have to understand how can they trust you if you are elected president. >> the vice presidential debate. joe biden coming up. he stepped in it a little bit this week with the comment about the middle class being buried the last four years. take a look. >> how they can justify, how they can justify raising taxes on the middle class that's been buried the last four years. how in lord's name can they justify raising their taxes with these tax cuts. >> two questions, is there more

pressure on the vice president to be aggressive coming off the president's debate and are you worried about gaffes like that. >> well, look, i don't think that was a gaffe, george. i think what the vice president was talking about is what he's talked about every day which is a series of eight years of -- >> he said buried the last four years. >> well, we've been digging out for what was an avalanche of bad economic decisions over the past eight years during the bush administration, what mitt romney and paul ryan want to do is take us back to that exact same failed economic theory, talk down tax cut, eviscerating the investments we know we need to grow our economy from the middle out rather than from the top down. look, i know vice president biden, i know he's looking forward to having a spirited exchange about ideas. i simply hope this, i hope what paul ryan does is something fundamentally different than what mitt romney does and that can i hope he comes with just a modicum of truth and willing to defend their policies rather than to admit somehow they don't

exi exist. >> finally will we see a different game from president obama in the next debate? >> i think now that barack obama has had the opportunity to meet both mitt romneys, i don't doubt that he'll make some adjustments. i know he's looking forward to the next debate. >> robert gibbs, thanks very much for your time this morning. >> george, thanks for having me. >> let's hear from the romney campaign. ed gillespie joining us this important. ed, thanks for getting up this morning. you heard robert right there, masterful, theatrical, fundamentally dishonest. i guess his basic point now about governor romney on his tax plan is either that he's not telling the truth about the scale of the tax plan or abandoning his economic theory. which one is it? >> well, the problem they have is that the debate's performance on wednesday evening was not a matter of style, it was a matter of substance and governor romney laid out a plan for turning this economy around, getting things moving again, he had a fact-based critique of president obama's failed policies that the president was unable to respond to. and today and since then, the

obama campaign, they remind me a little bit of a 7-year-old losing a checker game and instead of being frustrated at the outcome they sweep the board off the table. the fact is is that if president obama's re-elected as governor romney pointed out we'll have continued chronically high unemployment, we're going to have continued massive debt instead of moving toward a balanced budget, we've had this week the fourth trillion dollar deficit under this president, health care premiums are going to continue to rise up to 20 million americans will lose their employer-based health insurance under obama care and they'll raise $716 billion from medicare. governor romney has a different approach that would move the country in the right direction and that's what they're frustrated about. >> let's talk about that approach and get to the bottom of this disagreement. governor romney says he will not increase the deficit with his tax cut, will not increase taxes on the middle class, so is he saying that if he cannot come up with enough loopholes and deductions, closing the

deductions to pay for the tax cuts, which amount to about $5 trillion he will scale them back? >> what he has said, george, he is going to cut tax rates across the board by 20% and offset those cuts with eliminating deductions and loopholes for the upper income families. >> but there aren't enough deductions to pay for that. >> for the middle class families. you can pay for it. there are six studies that say you can do that. you can broaden the base and lower the rates. that would foster economic growth, and we've done that in the past. there's one study that says that you can -- that uses the word assume or assumption 68 times by liberal think tank and that's what gibbs and others point to. >> if it does turn out that the deductions do not make up for the cost of the tax cuts, does governor romney say he will scale back the tax cuts? >> what he has said is it's going to be -- he's not going to increase the deficit in bringing down the rates and broadening -- >> so he won't scale back the

tax cut. >> we saw that done, by the way, as you know when tip o'neill was speaker of the house and ronald reagan was president of the united states and they worked together on a very important and significant tax reform. we believe that it's time for that again and that you can do that working across the aisle. obviously governor romney, if he becomes president, would hope to have republican majorities in the house and the senate but you would have to work across the aisle and we believe it can be done and there are six studies that show it can. >> precedence, not increasing the deficit. you heard robert gibbs talk about big bird and the targeting of big bird by governor romney. coming out of that pbs cited poll showing it's the most trusted public institution and it only takes about 0.01%. was it a mistake to target him? >> it wasn't a targeting, it was just pointing to one example as you know governor romney would move us toward a balanced budget with a 5% cut in nonsecurity

discretionary spending and eliminate a number of perhaps and consolidate a number of others. with jim lehrer there, he made an important point, you have to borrow money from china to pay for these program, is it worth it? that's the test that should be applied. if we impose it on future generations. big bird, i can tell you, as the father of three children grown, any father who's gone to a toy store knows that big bird is a pretty commercially successful entity and whether or not we should be subsidizing it and you can cite, oh, it's not that big a percentage of the budget, that's true but every penny that raises a potential cut seems to be sacred with this administration and you can't cut it. and they demagogue it and i think the american people understand this is a big election and a big choice. >> let's talk -- >> have to make some tough decisions and have to find some things where it's not worth borrowing money and imposing debt on future general raths, big bird would be pretty successful, i suspect, without a

government federal subsidy and all that debt. >> let's talk about friday's job numbers and raised suspicions among governor romney's allies friday morning. jack welch, the former chairman of ge said unbelievable jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything. can't debate so change numbers. steve forbes follows up and says welch is right. does governor romney put any stock in those theories and have any suspicions at all about the bls numbers? >> george, the numbers themselves are very damning. when you look at it, we had fewer jobs created in september than were created in august, fewer jobs created in august than were created in july. our unemployment rate has come down because for -- since president obama took office for every new job created more than six workers have left the labor force. if labor force participation was what it was when the president took office, unemployment would be around 10.7%. these jobs that were added in september were largely part-time jobs. so we still have 23 million american, that number has not changed at all, would are either

unemployed or out of work entirely or are underemployed working or out of the workforce entirely or underemployed working part time instead of full time or not in a job commensurate with their skills, half of the college students coming out of, you know, with degrees today are unable to find a job. this economy is not doing well and the fact that you have a white house celebrating an unemployment rate of 7.8% with 23 million americans out of work or unemployed or underemployed tells you a lot about the failure of this administration's policy, george. >> final question, bottom line, did governor romney do what he needed to do on wednesday to take control of this race? >> well, i think there were certainly a shift in the dynamic. people saw the real mitt romney. i think that's why you saw the reviews. i know, george, you thought it was a tie but most other objective viewers felt governor romney did do a very good job in making a casfor his policies and that president obama was unable to defend his past policies nor put forward a vision for future policies in

the way governor romney did but the most important thing is nearly 70 million americans saw the real mitt romney. not what they've been seeing in 30-second attack ads or in 12-second snippetsen 0 the evening news. they got to see and take a measure of him and i think they saw someone not only who could be president by virtue of his experience in being a leader with being able to reach across the aisle as governor of massachusetts but someone with a plan to get this economy moving again, which the president clearly does not. >> actually, ed. that's not what i said. you ought to look at the whole quote but thanks for coming in. we'll right back with our powerhouse roundtable in just 60 seconds. under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all.

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your column yesterday. >> yeah, i thought the president barely showed. i thought "the new yorker" covered the now famous "new yorker" cover in which they had the candidate romney at a podium looking at the empty chair where mr. obama would have been, captured it all. i am very curious about what the heck happened. was it a strategic mistake on the part of the obama campaign to play it a certain way and it didn't work or were there other factors involved? to me it is a mystery and one of those delicious things that will probably be answered in the big books about 2012 but, yes, the president was bad, mitt romney was good. >> jump on this. >> this is classic obama. he really, really wants to be the president of national unity. he's always wanted to be the reconciliation candidate and his instincts always in confrontations is to not go for the jugular but for the capillary. did the same thing in 2008. people forget how weak his campaign was through august of

2008 when he discuss was refusing to make the obvious case against mccain and then he toughened up but also -- >> in 2008. >> because he needs to be -- have his head against the wall. this was classic. this was the real obama who does not like -- he really wants to be a president of the whole nation. he somehow has a hard time wrapping his mind around the necessary of taking a tougher line if on cnn i said i didn't want to come to this conclusion but sitting watching i have to come to it. he just didn't want to be there. >> what was his strategy? >> i don't think it was. we'll know the next debate. i mean he's obviously either got to be different or it's going to be pretty bad but just looked like to me he really didn't want to be there. his mind wasn't on it. he didn't want to engage. he just wanted to get through the 90 minutes and i'm sure he's a very competitive guy. i hope -- knock on wood -- we'll see a different president obama at hofstra. >> how can a president feel that way? i don't want to be there during a debate for --

>> you know, reagan got lost on the pacific coast -- >> i don't know. the answer is i don't know but that was the impression that i got. >> president obama going into that debate, winning ahead in every single battleground state. i mean he was -- looked to me like a guy running out the clock. he was ahead. obviously there was a strategic decision not to bring up bain capital or the 47%. >> they disagree and say he was prepared for all of that. what i was more surprised, mary, sort of picking up on the points of blurring the differences that paul was making when social security came up, president obama says he, well, mitt romney and i basically agree on social security. >> i can i state the obvious since we all have theorys. the obvious is he didn't bring his game because he doesn't have a game. they have now blamed his performance on everything from strategic he's a unifier. that's belied by his campaign calling mitt romney everything from a liar to a tax thief to a felon to a murderer to a dog abuser to a misogynist.

this is one of the most negative campaigns in history and blame jim lehrer -- >> it was the altitude. >> the altitude, okay. he has no game. the only way the truth that this president likes to say all the time he has inherited the worst economy in history would be if he gets re-elected this is the worst recovery in the history of this country and his notion that it takes a long time to get out is belied also by history. >> not true. just in the measure of the recovery it's way better than bush's recover i. actual growth since the bottom is a lot better so we're supposed to talk about that later but this is not true. you can argue with the unemployment rate is high because it was a hell of a recession but this is not -- >> professor, can i say something about history? has there ever been this not be true in history that the deeper -- the deeper the recession, the steeper and stronger the recovery. there is no such thing as a deep recession with a moderate recovery. >> every financial crisis, financial post financial crisis economies look like this. we look like a post-financial

crisis economy. we look exactly like a standard post-recovery -- look all through. sweden in the '90s, look at japan, we're doing a little bit better than the average track on these things, but, no, i'm bitterly critical of obama's performance in the debate but this is the no the way to criticize him. >> why didn't he bring up a lot of many points like on the auto bailout where there's been progress thanks to a decision the president made. >> you know, i don't know the answer to that. and if it's something -- but i think we're going to see a different president obama in the next one. i don't know why he did that. you know, sometimes in life, you just have a bad night. anybody that follows sports knows that. sometimes it's the most logical explanation is the real one. just had a bad night. >> he would say things like in the '90s we had good job growth but in recent years we haven't. someone couldn't bring himself initially to say under clinton we had great job growth and under obama lousy. that's just him, his natural instinct to to blur the partisan

differences. i think that will change in the next debate. >> you definitely will. he will go right at romney. this is going to be an entirely different -- >> i think that's right. one of the other question, will we see a different kind of moderation? this was a brand-new format where jim leer he wanted to get out of the way and said he was effective in doing that. do you agree. >> i completely agree. i thought jim lehrer was absolutely great and it was a relief. i didn't even know in advance that this agreement had been made that the way the moderator would moderate would be a little more laid back. this is what it was. jim lehrer is old school and a pro. he didn't think it was all about him. he department think it was about getting the camera on him. he didn't think it was about him being the anchor with the whip. you know what i mean? he would ask a question and he would let these two guys either challenge each other or not, either lean back or lean forward, either take issue or not. he left it up to them, that was great because they are the ones

running for president, not the critics. >> liberals were because they know obama cannot perform under those circumstances where he has to think on his feet, where he has to make sense of this recover a which isn't the worst in history, which continues to result in no job growth whatsoever. that's the reality people are living. >> but can -- i don't want to skip without talking about the fact issue. >> we have plenty of time coming up. >> i don't know whether to blame lehrer or the president but it was kind of amazing because romney was not only saying things that are no true, he was saying things that his own campaign had previously said weren't true. the one that got me was not about taxes but the thing about covering people with pre-existing conditions which his plan does not which he has said that before and his campaign has walked it back in the past and there he was right again saying, well, my plan covers pre-existing conditions which is to be contempt -- >> you think it's the moderator's job -- >> no, but contempt for the

whole process. contempt for us thinking the news media will not cover on me as long as they say forcefully i won -- >> opposite say the press is against obama now. >> to let them know how to handle untruths. >> look, they asked one time lee trevino, great golfer, having trouble with putting and asked if he thought he needed a new putter and claims to have said it's not the arrow, it's the inter-yang. it's not jim lehrer. president obama was sitting right there. he could have confronted governor romney on any number of issues and drowning the distinction. >> isn't our job to actually never mind that the quality of the theatrical performance but to ask about, were there untruths spoken in that debate and there were a lot. >> about that -- >> because president obama was loose with the fact. >> they were minor. >> ah. >> he said -- >> $4 trillion plan to cut the deficit. >> he said health care premiums are rising at the slowest rate in 50 years. >> those are minor compared

with -- >> you know what, let's dig into those when we come back. take a quick break. a lot more roundtable including previewing the vp debate and last time it inspired "saturday night live." >> with barack obama you'll pay higher taxes. not with me and my fellow maverick. we're not afraid to get maver k mavericky in there and ruffle some feathers and not allow that and also to the great ronald reagan. >> and later "this week's" other big debate. >> american foreign policy has been to go into the middle east and try to buy friends. does that ever work. >> yeah, we can buy friends. >> i think it works. >> bill o'reilly live in our no-spin zone. [ male announcer ] we're all on a journey to financial independence. ♪

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♪ hey baby there ain't -- >> hey, can i call you joe? >> john mccain has been dead wrong. i love him as my mother would say, god love him but he's been dead wrong on the fundamental issues relating to the conduct of war. >> i would like more opportunity for this. i like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter even of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they've just heard. >> no one in the united states senate has been a better friend to israel than joe biden. >> i may not answer the questions the way that either the moderator or you want to hear but i'm going to talk straight to the american people and let them know my track record also. >> that was four years ago.

next vp debate is thursday night. working on the roundtable preview in just a little bit. peggy noonan, paul krugman, jon karl, mary matalin and james carville. the unemployment numbers that came out friday. i got to say, peggy, i was surprised first thing at "gma," the numbers come out the first tweet you get from jack welch raising a question about them. ed gillespie didn't bite but what is that about? >> oh, it's about widespread skepticism towards the actions and efforts of the u.s. government to begin with. second, i don't think anybody in america looks at the number whether it's 8.2, 8.4, 7.7 and thinks that's a real reflection of reality. everybody in america thinks they're not counting the number of people who stopped looking, the number of people who are underemployed. at that point the 7.8 number almost becomes academic, nobody has faith. >> look, we know it's a lousy labor market out there. thought what you want to have. however, it is an improving

labor market and not because of one month's numbers but one month, the whole thing, jack welch probably coming from the corporate world he doesn't quite understand how it is to fudge government numbers. but the -- if you look over the past year which is what you should do, you should not look at the numbers, there's a clear improvement. it's clear that adjusted for the changing and for the aging of the population the number of people with jobs this year, the relevant population is rising, clear that the payroll growth has exceeded population growth. so this is an economy that is slowly on the mend, and in a way the aberration was not this last month's number but the previous two months' numbers where the unemployment rate didn't fall even though the underlying situation was -- >> a trend over the last year and come to you in a second, jon. this chart showing that trend across several presidencies of the last year of an incumbent running for president and does obama is the improvement in the re-election year is where presidents get re-elected. >> the real world peggy alluded

to. real medium incomes have fallen twice as much under the obama recovery as they did in the bush recession. at this point in time under ronald reagan's policies, which governor reagan has a 21st century application of jobs grew at five types the rate they are. the states with 17 golfers, republican golfers instituted reforms. those states are growing their economy and creating jobs at twice the rate the national one is. this is about policies. we know they've worked. there is no recovery in the history of any recessions or depressions that have been as slow and as poor as this one and the rescissions upwards -- >> yes, it does, dr. krugman. it's completely totally true. >> i don't make up numbers. >> well, but just look at them then. the fact of the matter is this is actually a fairly typical slow post-financial crisis recovery which is picking up speed so although it's terrible

and i've been bitterly critical of policymakers in general for not doing more, the fact of the matter is we are clearly now in the upswing where you can see the beginnings of a turnaround. >> the challenge for romney is that, look, it's not just the unemployment number here, consumer confidence has been up for six weeks in a row, you've got the stock market is up. u have housing prices are up. there's a sense that things are still bad but getting better especially george in the battleground states. you have the governor of florida going around talking about the recovery in florida. you've got republicans -- >> republican golfers. >> in ohio -- >> yes, but how do you run against the economy when you have republican golfers --s if. >> as you said -- they're being replaced by republicans are growing the economy. >> you have -- you have a situation where welch put this out. now, here's a party that a large number of believe i creationism deny global warming, think that obama was not born in the united states, believe that tax cuts raise revenue so --

>> and -- >> it's not surprising they're going to believe somehow or another to be -- >> this is economic birtherism. that's what it is. >> you have to keep your eyes just for a second on the fundamentals. >> thank you. > one of the reasons people don't think things are getting better economically is not only because they have eyes but because they know our fundamentals are bad, the spending is terrible, the tax structure isn't competitive. they're looking down the road and seeing -- >> have doubled. health care premiums have gone up. >> move to not make it better. maybe change would be a good job in order to get growth. >> this is's the public you're talking about. polls show that the economy is now dead even despite the lousy absolutes, people think that obama -- >> you know as well as i do spending continues to be huge but our tax system isn't competitive and everybody out there worries about that. oh, my god. >> people's optimism about the economy is increasing a little bit. broad spectrum of consumer

confidence -- >> one thing about this whole conspiracy theory. i went down and talked to the woman in her cubicle who wrote the announcement, 7.8%. there is not a single political employee in the entire bls right now, not one. i mean this is crazy town to think that it was -- >> when you say people don't trust government this is the most trustworthy. the inherent problems of economic data which are all science faction but these are honestly constructed science fiction. >> most people don't understand, you do, how this is done. a survey of 60,000 households. it's a survey, a margin of error. >> 400,000 jobs. >> the margin is 0.2%. you could have 8% unemployment. >> the survey of employers and households and they're telling the same story of an economy that is slowly on the mend, slowly but slowly on end. >> it's a belly crawl. it's a belly crawl. you like to talk about your data, professor. here's political data. 80% or three-quarters of

seniors, women, men and independents think that the obama policies did not help either their personal situation or the economy. majorities of women, men, independents and seniors and small business believe that the obama policies have hurt the economy. this is about policies. it is -- you want me to read your data. i'm saying read our data. >> the reality -- the point is that in boasting about the unemployment number the obama people are making too much out of one pops's number which everybody does but there's a fundamental truth that things are getting better. not as fast as they should by a long shot. maybe a quarter of the way back from the damage that was done by the financial crisis, but we are making our way back. >> when you look at both events, let me ask you to weigh in, how much did the race change this week? >> i think it changed -- i think romney helped himself but i think this is a clarifying event because now the republicans are enthusiastic about romney. while they're enthusiastic about

ryan, the winner of this race will have real legitimacy. this is not going to be a thing where they say, well, he really didn't represent our caution. now that -- if the president wins re-election, then you're going to see sort of policies along the clinton line when it comes to tax on top earners. you're going to see the health care bill stay in place. you'll see regulation of wall street stay in place and see these things happen. if by the same token romney wins he'll have the authority of an election behind him so i think this gives the next president a real boost when he gets in there. >> i think one of the key things about the debate is it's change -- we will look back on it as an historic moment in this election. it upended things. this is what it upended. barack obama was supposed to be the sort of moderate centrist fellow who looked at mitt romney, this extreme, strange fellow. by the time that debate was over, mitt romney seemed a completely moderate centrist

figure who showed up as mitt romney the governor, not as mitt romney the candidate. >> except that everything he used to clean his centrism wasn't true so this is a question, does that start to take its toll over the next few months. >> i think that's unjust. i mean to say the very least -- >> he came -- >> when you say -- >> when you say it's covers pre-existing conditions when it doesn't and when your own campaign admits it doesn't, that's amazing. >> you have mitt characterized and you have lied about every position and every particular of the ryan plan on medicare from the efficiency of medicare administration to calling it a voucher plan so you're hardly -- >> it is a voucher plan. >> hardly credible on calling somebody else a liar. >> but the fact of the matter, i just think that pre-existing condition was a tee dining moment. it was saying this guy believes not only he can say something not true but something his own complain admitted it wasn't true and say it in front of 70 million people. that's amazing.

>> the other thing that offended was governor romney effectively shut down the legions that obama has erected against him and mitt romney, the real mitt romney is, what was belied all the stereotypes and demonic mischaracterizations of him, $300 million of attack ads so people got to see, as ed said, the real mitt romney and they liked his positionis and liked him as a person. >> mitt romney also nailed the president on not working well with the other party and made the point that he can work well with the other party as he did in massachusetts. >> yes, set the record for -- >> yeah. >> exactly. >> but i'm not -- >> democratic legislation you have a veto a few things. >> the choice is going to be, do you go back to the clinton tax rates on people that are earn over $250,000 and keep the health care bill in place or repeal it. do you keep wall street regulation in place or do you

repeal it? do you have a foreign policy that leads with diplomacy, not war? that's going to be the consequence of this election. it may not be like everybody wants it but the new president is going to come in with real authority. >> static about romney/ryan now. >> it's a new race after that debate. imagine if romney had come in and had a terrible performance, you have what happened before and the jobs number on friday, it would have effectively been over. this is now a real race, republican fund-raising has picked up dramatically this week. look at the crowds he had just yesterday in florida. he is a new candidate. he is somebody now be has enthusiasm. >> definitely got back in the game but we'll be watching where the polls are in the battleground states, especially ohio. let's look ahead to the vice presidential debate. both vice president biden and paul ryan setting expectations this week. >> you're not going to rattle joe biden. joe biden has been on the national stage. ran for president twice, sitting vice president. what i hope to achieve is to give people an alternative.

>> i just want to make sure that when i say these things that i don't have the congressman saying, no, no, i don't have that position or that's not the governor's position and so it's mainly getting the factual predicates for everything. >> now, this debate is going to cover a lot of topics including foreign policy on thursday night but, james, it is clear from talking to both ed gillespie and robert gibbs this morning they're going to continue to zero in on this whole issue of the romney tax cuts. is it vouchers or not? at is governor romney's -- >> as they should. as they should but what romney proposed cut tax rates to 20% for everybody, $4.8 trillion over ten years. what they're saying is how are you going to pay for this? he says, with unspfed -- unspfed -- >> big bird. >> they should hone in on that. as paul pointed out, paul ryan's plan just calls for cuts. doesn't say what the sort of cuts are. that's a legitimate thing in an election. what could be more legitimate than that?

>> still the fact of the matter is ryan -- despite, you know, however he manages to put it across romney is calling for his tax cuts for the rich -- which he says he'll make up for and refused to say anything. this is amazing. you say i'm going to raise $5 trillion revenue but i'm not going to tell you how to offset those -- >> like you said, max cap deductions. >> hasn't committed -- >> no plan at all. >> it's amazing. $5 trillion. >> the only -- >> professor krugman's argument is cheery-pick he doesn't look at the most recent study by harvard researchers, your sort of colleagues. >> that was a -- you can do it as long as you include people with incomes between 100,000 and $250,000. >> i didn't finish my point. the biggest impediment to our economy is entitlements and medicare. not just talking about a tax reform but regulatory reform

that costs $10,000 per employee that's a drag on the economy and talking about fixing medicare, reforming medicare which the harvard guy said had his plan been in place would have reduced it 9% in one year. >> that's martin feldstein -- >> i'm talking about the american medical association report. >> this is -- well, look, you know, romney has not given -- >> i don't understand why it's not clear to say we want to lower the rate. widen the base. we will work at -- this is a grown-up thing -- i will have a legislature. >> but, peggy -- >> we will work this out. >> ronald reagan did this reform, tax reform in '86. it was a negotiation. >> people are talking about '82. ronald reagan signed on to one of the largest -- one of the largest tax increases -- >> that was a tax -- >> that's why -- >> kept it from exploding. >> worked out -- >> you have to have some notion

of what you want to do. >> the issue here is that, you know, romney has not put any of the details out. that is true. he's thrown some ideas. he said he's going to balance the budget in seven to ten years while doing tax reform, while increasing defense spending, not touching medicare, i mean there's a lot of things that don't add up but because romney has not given the details doesn't give the president the right to make them up for him. he is not going to have a $5 trillion net tax cut. >> absolutely good at details -- >> that's not his plan. >> but i think to say there's a $5 trillion tax cut to be offset by mystery meat. you know, that's a correct statement. >> or -- >> there's a $5 trillion tax cut, well, we don't know what it is he's going to do but what he proposed is a $5 trillion tax cut plus he says, trust me, i'll do something different. >> what can be more legitimate in saying you're proposing $5 trillion in a reduction in revenue. how are you going to pay for this and he says i'm not going to tell you, i'll just let the congress do it. no, these are the things you

have to get rid of. child deduction or home mortgage deduction. >> and we're going to have -- he said it. you just don't listen to -- >> the end of the story -- >> you don't want to -- he already wrote the bill. do you want him to be more specific so you can rouse people against this or -- >> absolutely, absolutely. >> and keep anything good or helpful from happening with regard to cutting. >> i think he needs to tell the truth. i do. you're right. >> i want to have all of you back after the next debate. we have a lot more to talk about. that was a fantastic roundtable. thank you all for you at home that want to weigh in jon carm will answer your question questions @jonkarl. one-on-one with bill o'reilly. there he is. what does a machine know about itself? can it know when it needs to be repaired? and when it doesn't? in industries like manufacturing and energy, they're using predictive analytics to detect signs of trouble

helping some companies save millions on maintenance, because machines seek help before they're broken. and don't when they're not. that's what i'm working on. i'm an ibmer. let's build a smarter planet. the problem with the discourse situation in america is capitalism. listen to me and follow closely. you can make a lot of money by

being an assassin. a lot of money. matter right wing or left wing, all right. you go in and you're a hater, radio, cable, in print, whatever, you get paid. >> and live now fresh off his rumble in the air conditioned auditorium with jon stewart, bill o'reilly, thanks for coming in this morning. >> george, i'm still asleep though stephanopoulos. take it easy on me. >> i doubt that. let's pick up on what you were saying, political assassin, kind of dangerous territory for anyone in political television. who are you calling out? >> i'm not going to name them but if you don't know them then you're not living in the usa. i mean they're all over the place and they just attack people personally for money and that's just the way it is. >> there was also a lot of hate flowing on twitter last night about the technical glitches in the rumble. i'm sure you have seen. what can you guys do about it? a lot wanted to see the debate and couldn't tune in. >> we saw that problem.

everybody is going to get to see it and it's $4.95 in you want your money back, it's going to charity anyway but we'll do it. it crashed. the server crashed. we had so many people coming in. but anybody who wants to see it now can see it. and that means you didn't have to sign up -- you can sign up now and it's worth seeing. i mean it's a battle between socialism and capitalism and it's funny and lively, so check it out on rumble2012.com. >> you guys were not afraid to go at it. you kind of like each other a lot, as well. let's talk about the other debate this week. you just heard the roundtable here. could have used you in the middle of all these guy, strong opinions about how much changed this week. what's your bet? >> well, look, the problem that your panelists -- the problem with this is, that they're all micro -- oh, he did this. look, the election is about philosophy. just like stewart and i were debating last night, it's about

direction of the country. are we going into the western european quasi-socialism or are we going to get back to robust capitalism? what are we going to do here? all right, the micro is important but it's not the dominant theme, which direction do you want america to go in? >> it sounds to me then you agree with james carville on that point that this is a big election, a clarifying election and whoever wins will have a mandate for quite different approaches. >> absolutely. you know, carville is right for the first time in his life, this is huge. because we have a lot of americans who are saying, you know what, i want stuff. i want stuff from stephanopoulos, he makes a lot of money, give me stuff. whereas i was raised in my town of you make your own way and, of course, we want safety nets for people who are hurt. of course. every american fair-minded wants that but it's a philosophy of life that's in play here. >>ing 0, so you and carville agree. we've achieved something this

morning. also, you're -- >> don't spread that around, though. >> you just said it on national. brand-new book "killing kennedy" along with your co-writer martin dugard, the historian. i know you say you're not a professional historian but after working on this book what is your bottom line on the assassination. >> if you want to know how john f. kennedy governed and was killed i mean in micro detail killing kennedy is the book for you, it's a no-spin book, no bs. this is who the man was, this is how he governed in the most difficult times in his administration and this is how he died. and we just lay it out and the things that we don't know and there are some, we tell the reader, we cannot get to the bottom of this, but the book is sold 200,000 copies in its first three days of release, it's a monster and i just hope everybody checks it out. >> bill o'reilly, congratulations on that. thanks for coming in this morning. all of you at home can check out an excerpt of bill's book "killing kennedy" on our

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most people say it is romney 1, obama 0. talk about it. that is on square off sunday at 11:00 on abc 2.